LA Times Crossword Answers 22 Mar 2018, Thursday

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Constructed by: Robert & Marlea Ellis
Edited by: Rich Norris

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Today’s Reveal Answer: No-Nos

Themed answers are common phrases that start with “NO”, but that “NO” is missing:

  • 64A. Taboos, and a hint to the four longest puzzle answers : NO-NOS
  • 17A. Soda fountain come-on? : (no) GREAT SHAKES
  • 26A. Earthquake coverage? : (no-)FAULT INSURANCE
  • 43A. List in a quiz program recap? : (no) QUESTIONS ASKED
  • 56A. Lower hulls fortified? : (no) HOLDS BARRED

Bill’s time: 8m 16s

Bill’s errors: 2

  • ROY (Rom!!)
  • THEY (them!!!!)

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Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11. Part of ROM: Abbr. : MEM

Read-only memory (ROM)

14. Longest-serving prime minister of India : NEHRU

Jawaharlal Nehru was the very first prime minister of India, and served from 1947-64. Nehru was basically the heir to his mentor Mahatma Gandhi. Nehru’s only daughter Indira, also became prime minister (known as Indira Gandhi through marriage, though she was no relation to Mahatma).

15. Austrian actress Berger : SENTA

Senta Berger is an actress from Austria who is regarded by many as the leading German-speaking actress of the past few decades.

16. Kanye West’s “I __ God” : AM A

“I Am a God” is a 2013 song from hip hop artist Kanye West that appears on his studio album “Yeezus”.

Kanye West is a rap singer who was born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago. He also spent some time in Nanjing, China as a child, where his mother was teaching as part of an exchange program. West is married to reality star Kim Kardashian.

19. Monarch catcher : NET

The monarch butterfly has very recognizable orange and black wings, and is often seen across North America. The monarch is the state insect of several US states and was even nominated as the national insect in 1990, but that legislation was not enacted.

20. Brooklyn Dodgers legend Campanella : ROY

Roy Campanella was a Major League Baseball player considered by many to have been one of the greatest catchers the game has ever seen. Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the forties and fifties and was a pioneer in breaking the color barrier as he started out playing in the Negro Leagues. Sadly, he was paralyzed in a car accident when in his late thirties and so his career was tragically cut short.

21. In questionable taste : TACKY

Something tacky is in bad taste. The term derives from the noun “tackey” that was used in the early 1800s to describe a neglected horse.

24. Radiant glow : AURA

An aura (plural “aurae”) is an intangible quality that surrounds a person or thing, a “je ne sais quoi”. “Je ne sais quoi” is French for “I don’t know what”.

25. Italian cheese : ASIAGO

Asiago is a crumbly cheese that is named for the region in northeastern Italy from where it originates.

31. Aids in illegal activity : ABETS

The word “abet” comes into English from the Old French “abeter” meaning “to bait” or “to harass with dogs” (it literally means “to make bite”). This sense of encouraging something bad to happen morphed into our modern usage of “abet” meaning to aid or encourage someone in a crime.

32. Roberts of “That ’70s Show” : TANYA

Actress Tanya Roberts played one of TV’s “Charlie’s Angels” for the last season of the show. She was also a Bond Girl opposite Roger Moore in 1985’s “A View to a Kill”. More recently, Roberts played “Midge Pinciotti” on “That ’70s Show”.

33. Comic Martha : RAYE

Martha Raye was a comic actress as well as a singer. Raye was famous for the size of her mouth, something that she used to her own advantage. As her nickname was “The Big Mouth”, she made a little money appearing in commercials for the Polident denture cleaner in the eighties. Her line was, “So take it from the Big Mouth: new Polident Green gets tough stains clean!”

34. One-named singer with 15 Grammys : ADELE

“Adele” is the stage name of English singer Adele Adkins. Adele’s debut album is “19”, named after the age she was during the album’s production. Her second album was even more successful than the first. Called “21”, the second album was released three years after the first, when Adele was three years older. More recently, her third studio album “25”, released in 2015, broke the first-week sales records in both the UK and the US.

36. Neeson of “Love Actually” : LIAM

Irish actor Liam Neeson got his big break when he played Oskar Schindler in the Spielberg epic, “Schindler’s List”. Neeson was in the news a few years ago when he lost his wife, actress Natasha Richardson, in a tragic skiing accident in 2009.

“Love Actually” is a wonderful British romantic comedy, a film we watch every Christmas. The movie has a great ensemble cast and was written and directed by Richard Curtis. Curtis was also the man behind “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Notting Hill”. “Love Actually” is very much in the same style as these earlier films.

42. Ship’s seepage : BILGE

The bilge is lowest internal part of a ship. The water that collects in there is called bilge water. The term “bilge” is also used as slang for nonsense talk.

47. Latin ballroom dances : TANGOS

The dramatic dance called the tango originated in the late 1800s in the area along the border between Argentina and Uruguay. Dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires in particular traveled to Europe and beyond in the early twentieth century and brought the tango with them. The tango craze first struck Europe in Paris in the 1910s, and from there spread to London and Berlin, crossing the Atlantic to New York in 1913.

48. Berlin octet : ACHT

“Acht” is German for “eight”.

Berlin is the capital and largest city in Germany, and is the second most populous city in the European Union (after London).

49. One of a Dumas trio : ATHOS

Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” are Athos, Porthos and Aramis, although the hero of the novel is the trio’s young protégé D’Artagnan. A musketeer was an infantry soldier who was equipped with a musket. Funnily enough, the three “musketeers” really don’t use their muskets, and are better known for prowess with their swords.

50. Civil rights leader Chavez : CESAR

César Chávez was a Mexican American farm worker, and co-founder of the union today known as the United Farm Workers. Chávez was born in Yuma, Arizona, but moved to California as a child with his family. He never attended high school, dropping out to become a full-time migrant farm worker. In 1944, at 17 years of age, he joined the US Navy and served for two years. 5-6 years after returning from the military, back working as a farm laborer, Chávez became politically active and rose to national attention as an articulate union leader during some high profile strikes. He is remembered annually here in California on his birthday, March 31, which is a state holiday.

52. __-tip steak : TRI

A tri-tip is a cut of meat that all goes by the names tip roast, round tip roast and sirloin tip roast. Tri-tip is a cut of beef from the rear of the animal. It is a triangular muscle, hence the name.

55. Barnyard sound : MAA!

“Maa” is the call of a goat.

56. Lower hulls fortified? : (no) HOLDS BARRED

The hold of a ship or a plane is usually where the cargo is stored.

60. Missouri tribe : OSAGE

The Osage Nation originated in the Ohio River valley in what we now call Kentucky. The Osage were forced to migrate west of the Mississippi by the invading Iroquois tribe. Most of the tribe members now live in Osage County, Oklahoma.

64. Taboos, and a hint to the four longest puzzle answers : NO-NOS

The word “taboo” was introduced into English by Captain Cook in his book “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean”. Cook described “tabu” (likely imitative of a Tongan word that he had heard) as something that was both consecrated and forbidden.

Down

4. Sportswriter Berkow : IRA

Ira Berkow is a sports reporter and writer who worked from 1981 until 2007 for “The New York Times”.

6. __ School: art movement featuring NYC scenes : ASHCAN

The Ashcan School was an early 20th-century artistic movement that focused on works that portrayed scenes of daily life in New York City. Examples of artists who worked in the style were Robert Henri, George Luks and John Sloan.

9. Abbr. in some Québec addresses : STE

“Sainte” (ste.) is French for “saint”, when referring to a “femme” (woman).

The name “Québec” comes from an Algonquin word “kebec” meaning “where the river narrows”. This refers to the area around Quebec City where the St. Lawrence River narrows as it flows through a gap lined by steep cliffs.

11. Oscar-nominated “Flashdance” song : MANIAC

“Maniac” is a hit song written for the 1983 movie “Flashdance”. It was performed and co-written by Michael Sembello. Paramount Pictures executives asked Sembello for songs to potentially include in the film. Sembello’s wife included “Maniac” on the tape by accident.

“Flashdance” is a 1983 romantic drama film about a young welder at a steel plant who aspires to become a professional dancer. The movie’s soundtrack was also a big hit and features songs like “Maniac” and “Flashdance …What a Feeling”. The latter was performed by Irene Cara, and won the Best Original Song Oscar for that season.

13. San __, California : MATEO

San Mateo is a city located south of San Francisco, just across the other side of the Bay from where I live. San Mateo is Spanish for Saint Matthew.

18. Asian dress : SARI

The item of clothing called a “sari” (also “saree”) is a strip of cloth, as one might imagine, unusual perhaps in that is unstitched along the whole of its length. The strip of cloth can range from four to nine meters long (that’s a lot of material!). The sari is usually wrapped around the waist, then draped over the shoulder leaving the midriff bare. I must say, it can be a beautiful item of clothing.

24. Steve Rogers, for Captain America : ALTER EGO

Captain America is a fictional superhero in comics published by Marvel Comics. He is the alter ego of a weak man called Steve Rogers who was given an experimental serum by the US Government during WWII.

25. Composer of the opera “Alfred” : ARNE

Thomas Arne was an English composer from London. Arne wrote some iconic compositions, most notably “Rule, Britannia!” He also wrote a version of “God Save the King” that became the British national anthem.

“Alfred” is a sung work for the stage with music by Thomas Arne. “Alfred” was first performed as a masque in 1740. Arne further developed the piece into an oratorio that debuted in 1745, and then an opera that opened in 1753. The finale of all three versions is the stirring song “Rule, Britannia!”.

27. Chicago-based law org. : ABA

American Bar Association (ABA)

28. Illegal fwy. maneuver : UEY

Hang a “uey” or “uie”, make a u-turn, make a 180.

29. Court worker : STENO

Stenography is the process of writing in shorthand. The term comes from the Greek “steno” (narrow) and “graphe” (writing).

30. Co. that merged with Continental : UAL

United Airlines (UAL) has a complicated history, but can trace its roots back to Aviation Enterprises, founded in 1944 and later called Texas International. The first use of the “United” name in the company’s history was when airplane pioneer William Boeing merged his Boeing Air Transport with Pratt & Whitney to form the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC) in 1929. The Air Mail Act of 1934 required that UATC be broken up into United Aircraft (which became United Technologies), the Boeing Aircraft Company and United Air Lines.

34. Queen’s subjects : ANTS

The queen ant of some species can live to the ripe old age of 30 years, which is one of the longest lifespans in the insect world.

39. Club __ : MED

Club Méditerranée is usually referred to as “Club Med”. It is a French company that started in 1950 with a resort on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean. It was originally a “club” with annual membership dues. Now it is an operator of numerous all-inclusive resorts located all over the world.

41. Base entertainment : USO SHOW

The United Service Organization (USO) was founded in 1941 at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt “to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces”. A USO tour is undertaken by a troupe of entertainers, many of whom are big-name celebrities. A USO tour usually includes troop locations in combat zones.

42. Persian Gulf monarchy : BAHRAIN

Bahrain is an island nation located off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf. Bahrain is connected to Saudi Arabia by a series of causeways and bridges that were constructed in the eighties.

43. Persian Gulf native : QATARI

Qatar is a sovereign state in the Middle East occupying the Qatar Peninsula, itself located in the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar lies on the Persian Gulf and shares one land border, with Saudi Arabia to the south. Qatar has more oil and gas reserves per capita of population than any other country in the world. In 2010, Qatar had the fastest growing economy in the world, driven by the petrochemical industry. Qatar is scheduled to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, although the nation’s eligibility to do so is under question after a far-reaching bribery scandal was uncovered at the sport’s governing body.

45. Egyptian leader for whom a lake is named : NASSER

Lake Nasser is a large artificial lake created as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam (initiated by President Nasser). Lake Nasser lies in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Strictly speaking, the section of the lake in Sudan is called Lake Nubia.

46. Union foe : SCAB

We first started calling strikebreakers “scabs” in the early 1800s, and before that a scab was a person who refused to join a trade union (back as early 1777). The word probably comes from the use of “scab” as a symptom of a skin disease, and so is a term that is meant to insult.

52. 1982 sci-fi film : TRON

Released in 1982, Disney’s “Tron” was one of the first mainstream films to make extensive use of computer graphics. The main role in the movie is played by Jeff Bridges. The original spawned a 2010 sequel called “Tron: Legacy”, as well as a 2012 TV show called “Tron: Uprising”.

53. Defaulter’s risk : REPO

Repossession (repo)

54. Time to beware : IDES

In Act I of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” a soothsayer warns the doomed emperor to “beware the ides of March”. Caesar ignores the prophecy and is subsequently killed on the steps of the Capitol by a group of conspirators on that fateful day.

58. Frat letter : RHO

Rho is the Greek letter that looks just like our Roman letter “p”, although it is equivalent to the Roman letter R.

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Complete List of Clues/Answers

Across

1. Fall face first while skiing, say : EAT IT
6. Mighty silly : APISH
11. Part of ROM: Abbr. : MEM
14. Longest-serving prime minister of India : NEHRU
15. Austrian actress Berger : SENTA
16. Kanye West’s “I __ God” : AM A
17. Soda fountain come-on? : (no) GREAT SHAKES
19. Monarch catcher : NET
20. Brooklyn Dodgers legend Campanella : ROY
21. In questionable taste : TACKY
22. All excited : AFIRE
24. Radiant glow : AURA
25. Italian cheese : ASIAGO
26. Earthquake coverage? : (no-)FAULT INSURANCE
31. Aids in illegal activity : ABETS
32. Roberts of “That ’70s Show” : TANYA
33. Comic Martha : RAYE
34. One-named singer with 15 Grammys : ADELE
36. Neeson of “Love Actually” : LIAM
40. Continue gabbing : RUN ON
42. Ship’s seepage : BILGE
43. List in a quiz program recap? : (no) QUESTIONS ASKED
47. Latin ballroom dances : TANGOS
48. Berlin octet : ACHT
49. One of a Dumas trio : ATHOS
50. Civil rights leader Chavez : CESAR
52. __-tip steak : TRI
55. Barnyard sound : MAA!
56. Lower hulls fortified? : (no) HOLDS BARRED
59. Directional suffix : -ERN
60. Missouri tribe : OSAGE
61. Not-giving-up phrase : I HOPE
62. Completed : DID
63. Fishing boot : WADER
64. Taboos, and a hint to the four longest puzzle answers : NO-NOS

Down

1. Career for a sci. major : ENGR
2. Flight-related prefix : AERO-
3. Unspecified folks : THEY
4. Sportswriter Berkow : IRA
5. Clucks of disapproval : TUT-TUTS
6. __ School: art movement featuring NYC scenes : ASHCAN
7. Top out : PEAK
8. Very dark : INKY
9. Abbr. in some Québec addresses : STE
10. Contributes : HAS A SAY
11. Oscar-nominated “Flashdance” song : MANIAC
12. Arise : EMERGE
13. San __, California : MATEO
18. Asian dress : SARI
23. Contender for the crown : FINALIST
24. Steve Rogers, for Captain America : ALTER EGO
25. Composer of the opera “Alfred” : ARNE
26. At a distance : FAR
27. Chicago-based law org. : ABA
28. Illegal fwy. maneuver : UEY
29. Court worker : STENO
30. Co. that merged with Continental : UAL
34. Queen’s subjects : ANTS
35. “And how!” : DO I!
37. Sort : ILK
38. Sit in a cellar, maybe : AGE
39. Club __ : MED
41. Base entertainment : USO SHOW
42. Persian Gulf monarchy : BAHRAIN
43. Persian Gulf native : QATARI
44. Release : UNHAND
45. Egyptian leader for whom a lake is named : NASSER
46. Union foe : SCAB
47. Gained control of : TAMED
50. Dressed : CLAD
51. Advantage : EDGE
52. 1982 sci-fi film : TRON
53. Defaulter’s risk : REPO
54. Time to beware : IDES
57. Spanish she-bear : OSA
58. Frat letter : RHO

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